A burial ceremony of a prominent business man turned tragic in Mt Elgon, Bungoma County after supporters of two separate politicians clashed.
A verbal exchange of words culminated into fistfights during the burial of prominent Cheptais based business man Peter Chepkech Zablon at his Nasala village within the outskirts of Cheptais.
The fracas broke out after Mr Masuti Chemasuet, a close confidant of Mr Evans Kiprotich was taking photos while the area MP Fred Chesebe Kapondi was addressing the crowd an act which provoked the supporters of the lawmaker.
Some demanded that the photos be deleted immediately . The confrontation led to hard physical exchange of blows .
The funeral was cut short and the coffin bearing the remains of the deceased taken away by the family members to the grave.Mr Chemasuet condemned the incidence terming it as disrespect to the deceased.
He vowed to take legal action against the lawmaker.
Speaking separately, Mr Kapondi said that politics was over and it was time to serve the electorate free of politics
He accused Chemasuet of taking him photos without his consent and posting them on social media for his own interests.
“Kazi yake ni kupiga picha hata bila ruhusa ya mtu. Mimi nilisema tafadhali usinipige nikiongea ama nikitembea nikitaka kuongea. Inakuwa ni aibu mzee mkubwa kazi yake ni kuchukua picha halafu anaweka katika social media kwa nia ya kuchafulia watu majina (All he does is taking photos without a person’s consent. I had warned him against taking my photos when I’m speaking or preparing to speak. It’s shameful for an elderly man to be taking photos to use for social media propaganda),” he said on his action against Mr Chemasuet.
The second term MP, who first served the volatile constituency of Bungoma County from 2007 to 2013, has been at loggerheads with government agencies and human rights groups over allegations of incitement to war, which he often denies. This is after a series of indecent characters portrayed by the supporters of the two politicians in funerals.
In 2016 there was a similar incident during the burial service of mzee Patrick Ngaina within Cheptais town pitting the two arch rivals.